Getting caught up (personal)

Apologies to my regular readers, with a week's absence in my posting, but I've been preoccupied with staffing issues on the job. With the usual winter illnesses, I think up until the middle of December I had maybe one day during the previous month when everyone was at work. Then holiday vacations kicked in. One editor took a week off, then I took an extended weekend before Christmas, and another staffer took a long weekend after Christmas.

Then things began to go downhill. One staffer left on a maternity leave, while the person who took the long weekend after Christmas was hospitalized with viral pneumonia, and will be out for at least two weeks. We've shuffled around to fill the post vacant because of the maternity leave, but I've had to fill in for the second post, which includes covering police and fire news. That resulted in my having to work 7-5 during the day and still be available to cover fires and wrecks at night. I was getting pretty run down. Then last Friday another staffer was taken to the hospital with a viral infection.

This weekend is my normal weekend off. My boss was nice enough to take the police radio so I can actually get some rest and caught up on my sleep. I don't mind covering for people when they are sick - it's part of the job - but you have to be realistic and recognize that you have physical limits, too. Last night was the first night I've had without a police radio on my nightstand since Dec. 24. I went to bed at 9:30 and slept until 8 this morning.

It felt good.

I'll get caught up on my s-f news in the next post.